Architecture tags hit Shoreditch

As part of London's festival of Architecture between 19 June and 4 July, 2010, a project called Tales of Things is inviting Shoreditch residents to add their stories to buildings in the area in an initiative titled "Tales of the City".

Wannabe taggers can download an application for the iPhone or Android handsets that scans QR codes placed on buildings around the area. Once scanned, you can add your own comments to that building -- memories of things that have happened there, an explanation to why a building's so important or any other things you want to say.

You can also add audio, video or images to your text. If you don't have an iPhone or Android handset then you can still take part, but you'll need to do it from your laptop by visiting the Tales of the City website and browsing around a map.

The tags have been placed on buildings around the area, including St Leonard's Church, tattoo parlours, bars, hairdressers, and a number of shops. If there isn't a tag on a building that you want to talk about, then you can generate one from the website, print it out, and stick it on yourself.

The grand idea is to democratise the city's architectural history by asking people for their memories about different places near were they live. The project is a coalition between Edinburgh College of Art, Brunel University, UCL, the University of Dundee and the University of Salford, aiming to preserve the social and community history of an area.

The project has been tagging architecture for a few months. In one location in Chalk Farm, a wall that used to feature a piece from Banksy has a tag that lets scanners see what the work looked like. The BBC's Broadcasting House has also been covered in tags. In one Oxfam shop in Manchester, the project used RFID tags and QR codes to allow objects to be tagged with the memories of those who donated them.

The project will be running until 4 July, when the festival ends and the shops will begin removing the QR codes from their windows. Of course, if the shops don't take them down, they'll still work just fine, so if you're a few days late and still want to contribute your memories in person, then it might be worth popping down anyway. You might get lucky.